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Dog bites baby to death After Mum Falls Asleep

| anaben

A newborn baby boy has been bitten to death by a family dog after his mum fell asleep on the sofa and his dad went out for a cigarette, it has been revealed.

The deceased, Reuben McNulty was just 14 days old when his parents’ pet dog, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier bit his head up to 23 times. He died three weeks later.

Before the incident,
Social workers had warned the parents Amy Litchfield and Dan McNulty not to leave Reuben alone with their two dogs.

But Amy, 31, was in a deep slumber next to baby Reuben, who also slept in a teddy bear bed on the sofa, while the dad, Dan had gone outside for a cigarette when the dog was savaged by one of the dogs at the family home in Yaxley, Cambs, UK.

An inquest on Tuesday, January 11, heard that neither Reuben nor the dogs were being directly supervised at the time of the attack just before 2am on November 18, 2018.

Family dog fatally bit14 day old baby on the head 23 times after mum fell asleep on sofa

Neither of the child’s parents attended the hearing.

When Dan got back in, he found the white dog called Dottie and the baby covered in blood while the baby’s mother was asleep.

Dan immediately called 999, telling the operator: “I think the f dog’s attacked him. My partner was asleep, I just heard crying.

“He’s just bleeding, you know? I was like what the f***?”

When paramedics arrived, Daniel and Amy refused to hold baby Reuben, the inquest heard.

The baby was then airlifted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge where it was discovered he had severe brain, spinal and skull injuries. He passed on at the same hospital on December 13 – three days after life support was removed.

Simon Newbury, a veterinary forensics expert, revealed that the dog may have bitten Reuben up to 23 times in the head while shaking him around.

Mr Newbury told the inquest at Peterborough Town Hall: “It’s possible that Dottie saw Reuben as a small prey or a squeaky toy.

“It’s possible that Dottie was stimulated into a predatory drive by crying or a movement [by Reuben].

“There appears to have been no supervision of the dogs. Amy was in a deep sleep, Daniel was downstairs, outside, smoking.”

Police had arrested Dan and Amy for allegedly neglecting their child but prosecutors changed their stance and decided not to charge them in December 2020.

Both dogs were seized by police and killed after the heartbreaking incident.

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At least 19 dead in New York City apartment fire

| anaben

At least 19 people have lost their lives while dozens sustained injuries after a fire tore through a high-rise apartment building in the New York borough of the Bronx, according to Mayor Eric Adams on Sunday.

US media reported that several children were among those who died.

“We know that we have 19 people who are confirmed dead, as well as several others in critical condition,” Adams, who has been mayor for barely over a week, told CNN. He added that there 63 people who had been injured.

“This is going to be one of the worst fires in our history,” he said.

The injured were taken to five hospitals; many suffered from cardiac and respiratory arrest, the New York Times reported.

The incident comes just four days after a fire in Philadelphia killed 12 people, eight children inclusive, in a three-story public housing building in what seemed to be one of the deadliest recent fires in the United States.

In New York, there were fears of a growing toll.

“The last time we had a loss of life that may be this horrific was a fire which was over 30 years ago, also here in the Bronx,” said Fire Marshal Dan Nigro, quoted by NBC News.

At least 200 firefighters responded to the blaze, which started mid-morning on the second and third floors of a 19-story building on East 181st Street, several blocks west of the Bronx Zoo.

Flames speedily engulfed much of the structure, and Nigro said the smoke was so dense as to be “unprecedented.”

Flames and thick black smoke could be seen in photographs and videos posted on social media. They were billowing out of a third-story window of the brick building as firefighters operated on a nearby ladder.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

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